Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

a book review by Paige Boehk

Katniss and Peeta have won the 74th annual Hunger Games and have returned to district twelve with Haymitch.  Katniss should be celebrating for even being alive, but she has upset the leaders in the Capitol by rebelling against their decision to only have one victor and forcing them to take both her and Peeta.  Katniss goes on the victor's tour through all the twelve districts, seeing all the parents of the kids they either killed or helped out in the game.  There were uprisings because of Katniss and her rebel ways.  When she gets home, back to district twelve, life is much different.  She's in the victor's village eating all the food she'd ever need, feeling bad because the rest of her district barely has food and she's set for life.

Things change when Katniss is thrown back into the arena -- the girl in the ring, the girl on fire.  The second book in The Hunger Games trilogy really shows how desperate the Capitol is to hold off a revolution.  Suzanne Collins has written a sequel which is better than the first book, which you rarely see. You'll read an awesome book and wait patiently for the sequel; when you finally read it, it's just not as good as the first book.  As the reader, I was excited and hopeful for Katniss, just rooting her on as the book went along.  For such a tragic and horrible world they live in, Katniss is real, even without a special gift like all the other books, except maybe her talent with a bow and arrow.  And not because she was a victor in the Hunger Games but because she was poor before the games and needed to hunt to survive.

Katniss is more grown up in this book, just by seeing how hard it is to kill people that she has gotten to know.  She also shows a lot of uniqueness and independence when she criticizes the people of the Capitol for stuffing their faces and then taking pills to make themselves throw up.  Or with her realization that this isn't just about her but about the good of the people in all the districts.

Just because this book is intended for a younger audience doesn't mean anyone other than young adults can read it.  Be hip -- read Catching Fire, the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy.


Find it in YA FIC Collins, S.

ALONG FOR THE RIDE by Sarah Dessen

A book review by Paige Boehk

Auden West is the best kid you could ask for, although she has a weird schedule -- she stays up all night and sleeps half the day.  She's been doing her own thing for awhile.  She uses her free time to study and take notes for college, even though she's 18 years old and hasn't  gone to college.  She is very mature and isn't like all the other girls her age.  She doesn't care about the latest fashion or who's dating who -- she just wants to do her own thing.  When Auden was 16, she saw her parents nasty divorce.  A couple years after, her father met Heidi, got married and had a baby -- a little girl named Thisbe. Auden also has an older brother named Hollis, who was backpacking around Europe.  Auden's mother was busy with her own life, having dinner parties with scholarly students every night.  That's when Auden chose to move in with her dad for the summer.

The beautiful beaches, the bright shining sun, and clear skies -- this was Colby in the summer.  Auden wanted to spend time with her dad and stay away from her new step-mom, Heidi.  She'd always seen Heidi as the girl who wears pink and high heels, though she found out this was not the case.  Heidi was very tired and emotional from just having her baby.  It was hard on her with no help from her husband.  Auden saw all the popular girls in miniskirts and the popular guys all riding bikes and doing tricks, seeing them all happy.  She still felt left out, like she did at home.

Auden realizes she will have to spend her whole summer with her dad in Colby and knows she needs to meet the kids there.  This is when she meets Jake Stock, a major player who has his eyes on her.  Colby is so small that Auden ends up getting together with Jake, who happens to be Maggie's boyfriend.  Maggie also works at Auden's step-mom's boutique, Clementine's.  After Auden apologizes, Auden and Maggie are able to become friends.  That's when Auden meets Eli, a boy with nocturnal habits and a past like her own.  They form a strong relationship throughout the book. 

Every character in the book needs to face his or her own fears and grow up.  They all make mistakes and have their own problems, which underscores the fact that no person is perfect though at first they may look that way.

Find it in YA FIC Dessen, S.